Judgment of the General Court (Appeal Chamber) of 14 December 2016 —Todorova Androva v Council and Others
(Case T‑366/15 P)
(Appeal — Civil Service — Officials — Promotion — 2011 promotion procedure — Non-inclusion on the list of officials eligible for promotion — Action at first instance dismissed — Article 45 of the Staff Regulations — Clause 4 of the Framework Agreement on fixed- term work concluded by ETUC, UNICE and CEEP — Equal treatment — Obligation to state reasons — Burden of proof — Obligation on the court hearing the substantive application to investigate — Plea of illegality — Rule of correspondence between the complaint and the action before the EU Courts)
1. Acts of the institutions — Directives — Directive 1999/70 concerning the ETUC, UNICE and CEEP Framework Agreement on fixed-term work — Direct imposition of obligations on EU institutions in relations with their staff — Precluded — Invocability — Scope
(Art. 288, third para., TFEU; Council Directive 1999/70)
(see paras 33, 34)
2. Acts of the institutions — Directives — Directive 1999/70 concerning the ETUC, UNICE and CEEP Framework Agreement on fixed-term work — Prohibition on discrimination against fixed-term workers — Whether capable of being pleaded against EU institutions in the context of their staff relations
(Art. 288, third para., TFEU; Council Directive 1999/70, Annex, Clause 4)
(see paras 35-38)
3. Acts of the institutions — Directives — Implementation by Member States — Need to ensure that directives are effective — Obligations of national courts — Obligation of conforming interpretation — Scope — Interpretation of national law contra legem — Precluded
(Art. 288, third para., TFEU)
(see paras 43-45)
4. Officials — Promotion — Minimum seniority in the grade required — Calculation — Account taken of periods of work as a member of the temporary staff — Precluded
(Staff Regulations, Arts 34 and 45; Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Communities, Arts 15 and 16)
(see paras 48, 49)
5. Officials — Promotion — Minimum seniority in the grade required — Calculation — Exclusion of periods completed as a member of the temporary staff — No infringement of Directive 1999/70 concerning the ETUC, UNICE and CEEP Framework Agreement on fixed-term work
(Staff Regulations, Art. 45; Council Directive 1999/70, Annex, Clause 4)
(see paras 58, 59, 71)
6. Actions brought by officials — Prior administrative complaint — Correspondence between the complaint and the application — Same subject-matter and legal basis — Submissions and arguments not made in the complaint but closely related to it — Admissibility
(Staff Regulations, Arts 90 and 91)
(see paras 78, 79)
Re:
| APPEAL brought against the judgment of the Civil Service Tribunal of the European Union (Second Chamber) of 29 April 2015, Todorova Androva v Council (F‑78/12, EU:F:2015:37), seeking to have that judgment set aside. |
Operative part
The Court:
2. | | Orders Ms Viara Todorova Androva to bear her own costs and to pay those incurred by the Council of the European Union and the European Commission; |
3. | | Orders the European Parliament to bear its own costs. |